Brazilian meteorologists: If the trend of "deforestation" cannot be contained, the Amazon rainforest may degenerate into grasslands within 5 years

Source: Global Times

Climatologists expect that the Brazilian Amazon rainforest may degenerate into an arid savannah within 5 years, which has aroused great concern in public opinion.

Amazon rainforest scenery. Image source: Visual China

According to the US science and technology news website "futurism" reported on the 11th, affected by many factors such as over-exploitation, rain reduction and global warming, the vegetation ecosystem of the Amazon rainforest is now on the verge of collapse. Luciana Gati, a senior climate scholar at Brazil's National Institute of Space Research, said that if the "deforestation" trend of the Amazon rainforest cannot be effectively curbed, it may erupt into a "complete environmental disaster" in just 5 years, when the rainforest may degenerate into an arid, single-vegetation savannah. Experts believe that humans should avoid mining it to the greatest extent possible, while stepping up the reconstruction of vegetation systems.

According to the BBC, the Amazon rainforest has been deforested by 22 per cent in the past year, and the area of degraded forest land is 13,235 square kilometres, the worst in 15 years. Despite Brazil's previous commitment to end the deforestation trend of rainforests by 2030, the target is clearly at odds with the urgency. Experts say humans have been decades late to protect the rainforest.